Cioppino Week - and more!

This week we are offering Cioppino sets for two that include Rockfish, Clams, Mussels, and Dungeness. In addition to the Cioppino sets we are offering each item individually. Frozen Spot Prawns from Half Moon Bay have been added to our seasonal offerings along with fresh Market Squid from Monterey and Cooked Rock Crab Claws from Santa Cruz.

Order cut off Tuesday 10:00am!

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Cioppino is a tomato-based seafood stew that was originated by Italian immigrants during the early 1800's in North Beach, San Francisco, which would consist of that day's catch - this often included rockfish, Dungeness, squid, mussels, clams, scallops, and shrimp. Don't forget a crusty loaf of sour dough to go with it!

We believe this dish is the perfect embodiment of everything that we do here at FreshCatch and we are excited to be offering a pre-portioned cioppino pack to our members for this first time!

Each will include a small portion of each thing as well as a Cioppino recipe - please read carefully and email us if you need to sub anything due to allergies.

This week we are delivering fresh Mediterranean Mussels (grown in Washington) and Manila Clams (grown in Washington) to our customers! These shellfish are being harvested and flown in from their respective ocean grown facilities - meaning we aren't dredging our oceans and destroying habitats to get them but rather plucking them from ropes or other structures that we place them on to grown in a sheltered inlet.

Why Washington this week?

No local clams available and the harvest schedule for cove mussels currently doesn't align with our delivery schedule, but hopefully that will change soon!

Not only are they sustainable but they are also delicious, nutritious, and easy to cook! (Yes that delicious looking photo is from one of our wonderful members @nerb from http://www.bitesandbourbon.com from the last time we delivered this option!)

We love these tastey morsels in soups and chowders, on french fries, pastas, smothered in butter on the BBQ, or served on top of pizza (that's right - pizza actually can get more delicious!)

I know many of you eat fish for it's health benefits - shellfish can also offer many of the same benefits in addition to others!

Mussels and Clams are teeming with vitamin B12, selenium, and manganese (offering over 100% of the RDA for each of them!) are they are particularly high in vitamin B12, selenium, iron, and manganese. That makes them excellent for nerve and blood cell health, treating or preventing iron-deficiency anemia, protecting against cellular damage, forming connective tissue, supporting cellular health, DNA synthesis, fat and carbohydrate metabolism, connective tissue and bone health, and blood sugar regulation (just to name a few!)

Our partners at Seafood Watch consider these farmed shellfish a "Best Choice" because they actually help filter our ocean water and keep it healthy for all of its inhabitants.

Single Orders will include 3 - 3.5lbs of BOTH Mediterranean Mussels and Manila Clams

*if you want only clams OR mussels please make a clear note in your opt-in email*

Regular orders too much seafood for you? Try a half share!

Half Orders will include 1.5 - 1.75lbs of BOTH Mediterranean Mussels and Manila Clams

We're expecting a fresh catch of them to come in late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning from one of our small boats out of Half Moon Bay. Our fishermen hand sort the crab and set aside the largest ones (2-3lbs+) for us! The crabs will then be iced on the dock and whisked off to our kitchen where they will be cooked, cleaned, cracked, and packed that morning to be delivered to homes across the Bay Area!

All of our orders will be delivered cooked, cleaned and halved. The reason for this is because crab is noticeably better tasting when it is cooked fresh out of the ocean water. Once they are exposed to oxygen for more than 8 hours there is a very noticeable difference in the texture. We are working on getting our own live tank with ocean water delivered daily from our partner abalone farm in Davenport, but until then these will be the freshest cooked crabs on the market!

Our partners at Seafood Watch consider Dungeness Crab caught in California in net pots a "Good Alternative", while the stocks are in good health there is concern about the large fishing pressure put on them each year. Additionally there is concern about whale ensnarement in the ropes of the pots - although this is rare. Our fishermen operate on small boats and participate in fishing gear recovery programs and undergo training to help mitigate these risks to other species.

Single Orders will include 1-1.25 Jumbo (2-3lbs when live) Dungeness Crabs - cooked, cleaned, and quartered.

These rockfish are caught in special light nets with holes large enough to allow smaller fish to escape. Underwater cameras are attached to them that allows our captain to target very specific schools of fish. Very few boats have this sort of outfitting which allows for nearly zero by-catch!

We love to support the crew of the F/V Pioneer because they are so passionate about local, sustainable seafood, every week we see them making improvements on their nets to make them even more efficient and sustainable as well as encourage our local government to do more to support and promote our local fisheries!

Joe has been one of the biggest proponents of the renewal of off the dock sales of fresh fish at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco - stay tuned for updates! We hope you can visit him at his boat and buy a whole fish directly from him one weekend in the near future!

Our partners at Seafood Watch consider these rockfish a "Good Alternative" because we could use a reassessment on the stock levels and there is concern that a renewed high demand for these fish could put pressure on the fishery. Joe does a great job avoiding harming the ocean or catching any by catch thanks to his sophisticated gear and underwater cameras - which makes his catch more sustainable than most!

Single Orders of Rockfish will include between 1.25 and 1.5lbs of skin off fillets, and four recipes

Regular orders too much seafood for you? Try a half share!

Half Orders of Rockfish will include around .60 and .75lbs of skin off fillets, and four recipes

Now that we have built a stronger relationship with our fishermen and women we are happy to announce that we will be offering a seasonal selection of seafood which will be offered consistently each Wednesday in addition to our rotating catch.

This month we have several squid boats going out multiple times a week as well as our rock crab boat in Santa Cruz going out twice a week. This allows us to always pick up our catch on a Monday or Tuesday to be delivered Wednesday, guaranteeing a fresh selection every week for our members!

Frozen Spot Prawns

They are here!Spot prawns are a delicacy here in the Bay Area, and we are so happy to be able to start offering them to our members!

These prawns are big, beautiful and sweet. We love them grilled with some chili-garlic sauce or on top of our favorite salad or pasta. Don't forget to save the shells to make a delicious stock - you can even incorporate them into your garden soil as fertilizer after you are done to make sure not a single ounce of their goodness goes to waste!

Our Spot Prawns are trap caught in Half Moon Bay - driven to our facility in live tanks - and then individually flash frozen to preserve their quality and freshness.

Why Frozen?Spot prawns are best either live or flash frozen - once they die their quality begins to degrade very quickly. We will only offer spot prawns live to our customers once we have our mobile live tank set up and ready to travel - until then we think frozen is just as good and way more convenient!

Our partners at Seafood Watch consider Spot Prawns caught in California in net pots a "Good Alternative" because the stocks are due for an assessment and there is little data available currently. Stocks appear to be in good shape, commercial fishing is very low, by-catch is minimal and most often is released and survives, occasional interactions with marine mammals has been known to occur but are rarely damaging.

Prawns will come frozen and whole (shell & head on)

Single Orders of Spot Prawns will include 1 lb ( usually 5 - 8 prawns)

Have you ever driven down Highway 1 at night and noticed a fleet of boats shining bright spotlights onto the ocean? This is part of our local squid fleet using their spotlights to attract squids into their nets! Our squid boats go out several times a week and land their catch in Monterey making them a consistent seasonal and sustainable selection that we are happy to offer every week to our customers while our boats are able to go out to sea.They are perfect for calamari or to spice up a delicious pasta dish! Squid will come whole so you will have the opportunity to learn a little squid anatomy and save the ink to use in your pasta or an inky Halloween-inspired dish that both kids and adults will love!

Our partners at Seafood Watch consider Market Squid caught with purse seine in California a "Good Alternative" as squid are an important part of the ocean food chain acting as both predator and prey for many different species and there is little assessment or regulations that limit the squid fishery at this time - but we hope there will be more soon!

Fresh Rock Crabs from Santa Cruz are a Seasonal Selection available to members each week! Captain Jason goes out twice a week to catch them and hand picks out the best and biggest of the bunch for us to cook up for our members early Wednesday morning. Rock crabs are a delicious and sustainable local alternative to the infamous Dungeness crab. Many restaurants like to use them as a substitute for Dungeness, but here at FreshCatch we like to think of them a little bit more like a Western cousin of the famous Florida Stone Crabs! They have big meaty claws and a rock-hard exteriors to protect their sweet centers. Most of their meat is in their claws and the arm attached to that claw so that is what we will be delivering with shares, the body meat is minimal making it perfect for stocks! There are only a couple boats catching these guys so you won't be finding them at your local grocery store!

Our partners at Seafood Watch consider Rock Crab caught in California in net pots a "Good Alternative" because the stocks are due for an assessment and there is concern for pots damaging seafloor. Jason avoids sensitive habitat zones and returns all small crabs back to the ocean making his catch more sustainable than others.